Front-page of South Asian newspapers under gender lens

[हिंदी] "Front-page of South Asian newspapers under gender lens" report was released
in Lucknow by Vote For Health campaign of Asha Parivar and Citizen News
Service – CNS. This report presents the summary analysis of an initial
pilot research study comprising a month-long news monitoring,
aggregation and gender analysis of the first page of prominent English
newspapers in five South Asian countries.
The principal
investigator of this study, Shobha Shukla, former Loreto Convent faculty
and Editor CNS, said: “The study had five indicators: How many female
journalists, compared to their male colleagues, got news stories with
their by-lines published on front page of English newspapers; how many
front-page news headlines carried names of female newsmakers compared to
those featuring male newsmakers; how many female experts were quoted in
the news on front-page compared to those featuring male experts; how
many women were featured in the front-page news content as compared to
men; and how many photographs of women were there on front-page as
compared to those of men.”

Shobha added: “This CNS gender
analysis yielded some startling results, with the data painting an
overall picture of the dismal presence of women in front page media, as
compared to their male counterparts. Barring very few cases (5 out of 25
to be precise), their presence (as per the above mentioned 5
indicators) ranged from 0% to 20%. Overall, Sri Lanka featured maximum
number of females (27%) in one category or the other (based upon above
mentioned indicators), followed by India and Bangladesh (19%), Pakistan
(9%) and Nepal (9%).”

• India had maximum female journalists
getting news stories with their by-lines (30%) published on front page
of English newspapers compared to their male colleagues followed by Sri
Lanka 15%, Pakistan 9.5%, Nepal 3.5%% and Bangladesh 0%.•
Bangladesh had most front-page news headlines carrying names of female
newsmakers compared to those featuring male newsmakers (22%), followed
by India (17%), Pakistan (16%), Sri Lanka (15%) and Nepal (0%).•
Sri Lanka had most female experts getting quoted in the news on
front-page compared to those featuring male experts (17%) followed by
Bangladesh (15%), India (12.5%), Pakistan (4%) and Nepal (2%).•
Sri Lanka had most front-page news content featuring women compared to
those that featured men (44%) followed by India (20%), Bangladesh (20%),
Pakistan (10.6%), and Nepal (6%).• Sri Lanka had most
photographs of women on front-page than those of men (31%) followed by
Bangladesh (25%), India (18%), Nepal (17.5%), Pakistan (10%).

Shobha
Shukla explained that this initial pilot research study was a very
small attempt to look at very few newspapers (one randomly chosen from
each of the five south Asian countries) and in no way is a comprehensive
or accurate reflection of gender balance in news media of South Asian
nations. But it does give some sense and initial trends that are
alarming and may have stronger implications in shaping public opinion
and how women related news are profiled. It is also important to study
further about the impact of having female media personnel in
decision-making positions in media organizations on gender balance in
news media.